Chapter forty-one - I'm on my side!

Locke was sitting at a short table in a room inside the mansion, Hanna and Tia were sitting next to him, and the woman in the black veil, Angèle de la Barthe, was sitting directly in front of him, with her face hidden by the veil, Locke was unable to say what she was thinking, the mansion's girls peered from a distance through the corridor door, trying to remain hidden, but Locke was sure Angèle had noticed them too.

One of the girls, a young Indian woman in her early twenties, came in with a tray containing a teapot and a plate of cookies, she put four cups on the table, spilling tea on each one.

Locke took a sip of tea but did not touch the cookies, Hanna took a single cookie and ate it, Tia took one cookie after another.

Angèle took her own cup, she lifted a small part of the vein that covered her face and Locke could see burn scars around her lips, she took a sip and started to speak. "So, do you want information? I am more than willing to provide everything I know! "

Locke watched her for a moment in silence, he put his cup on the table. "I have a lot to ask, but first, why did your girls approach Hanna?"

"So she really important to you! It's good to know that!" Angèle gave a small laugh. "I believe you already know that Hanna has great potential for magic! Besides, she is one chosen by Gaia, she has the gift of foreknowledge! "

"Gaia?" Hanna asked in surprise.

"Gaia is the will of the world!" Tia cut it off. "She is the manifestation of the Earth itself! Your power makes sense now! You are a world chosen!"

"The fairy is right, Gaia is the manifestation of the will of the world, she is even more mysterious than the gods, she chose you and gave you this gift, our goddess has no problems against Gaia, in a way they are even allies, for this we keep an eye on you from time to time!" Angèle added. "Is this enough for you?"

Locke nodded in agreement.

"Can you teach me magic?" Hanna asked excitedly.

"Of course! Although your method of using mana will be slight different from ours, since you will not be able to have a link with the Goddess, we can still teach you the basics! In fact, Wolde has already shown great interest in teaching you! Isn't that right, Wolde?"

Wolde shrieked in surprise, the other girls pushed her and she entered the room in shame. "Errr... Of course! I would love to teach Hanna the basis of magic!"

"Okay, well, we'll make time for her classes later, but I believe you have something else to ask me, right?" Angèle continued.

"I need a certain information, it's been a while since I awakened my powers but I still lack a lot of knowledge about the situation of the world! Recently I came across a strange phenomenon, I found some kind of trap in a school, whose objective was to sacrifice children and transform a human soul into a monster, this trap was obviously made by someone with powerful magical abilities!" Locke began to narrate his motives while observing whether Angèle and his girls showed any reaction. "Recently I found another one of these traps, a curse placed on a house, in order to sacrifice the families that lived in it to corrupt a Dryad, although the traps were different, the pattern was basically the same, both used human souls to create monsters! I want to know if you know who is responsible for this!"

"And what do you intend to do when you discover the culprit?" Angèle asked.

Locke smiled scarily as his eyes glowed gold.

"I see..." Angèle sighed. "They call themselves Heralds of the New World, but everyone else calls them the Cultists of the apocalypse!"

Angèle took another sip of her tea. "They are a very... disgusting group, they believe that the only way to save the world is to create a new world! I don't know if you know or do it instinctively, but there is a common consensus among all supernatural creatures to keep themselves hidden in the shadows of humanity! This little group of bastards want to make the existence of magic and the paranormal public, they also believe that only by bringing the apocalypse on earth can the true chosen ones prosper! That is why they work on several fronts, one of which is to corrupt supernatural beings or create new mystical threats, in order to cause the greatest possible damage to humanity! "

"So... They are a cult that believes that the only way to save the world is... to destroy the world?" Locke asked confused.

"Exactly!" Angèle replied.

"This is stupid!" Tia commented abruptly. "Are they dumb or what? If they destroy the Earth where will they live? Humans wouldn't last a second in most other worlds!"

"Tia is rigth..." Hanna commented. "Destroying the world hoping to save it seems stupid!"

"It is with great shame that I say that there is a coven that decided to join them, even though they ended abandoned by the goddess because of this they continue to be very powerful and dangerous witches!" Angèle looked sad. "It was probably one of them who was responsible for the traps you talked about!"

"And do you know where this cult is hiding?" Locke questioned.

"I'm afraid I don't have that information, but I think Bureal is close to finding them!" Angèle replied.

"Bureal?" Locke was confused.

"The Bureal of Paranormal Defense, is a worldwide organization responsible for providing defense against the paranormal, one of their units was dispatched to this city in searching for you, but because of you they ended up finding out about the acts of the apocalypse cult in this city and changed they attention to them!"

"Searching me? And what do they want with me?"

"The video of you destroying that gang came to their attention, they are responsible for managing unnatural threats and you... nobody knows what you are! Nobody knows which side you are on! Nobody knows how you get stronger and stronger!"

Locke was silent, Angèle too, they both faced each other from opposite sides of the table.

"I would like to ask sincerely... Whose side are you on, Locke?"

Locke looked quickly at Tia and Hanna, then he looked at Angèle again.

"I'm on my side!" Locke responded with confidence. "My father had a personal motto that I made mine: Save those you want to save! Destroy those you want to destroy! What this cult did to that poor girl soul made me angry, and for that I will make them pay dearly! "

"So, this is your way... what do you think of it?" Angèle asked Hanna and Tia.

"I trust Locke!" Hanna replied without delay.

Tia didn't even look at Angèle, she looked bored, she looked at the empty plate of cookies sadly. "Hmm? Whatever Locke chooses, he's the boss!"

"I see..." Angèle sighed. "As I said, I have no idea where the cult is hiding, we are also not contributing to they investigations, since the church is involved, so I'm afraid that is all the information I can give you..."

"As for that Bureal, will they come back to look for me in the future?"

"Without a doubt they will, but with the church on the scene, the Bureal must have suppressed all information about you and will avoid even commenting on your existence, you are safe for now!"

"What is this church that you are referring to? Why would Bureal have to hide information about me? "

"The Church is the Church, the same that the commom people usually go to on Sunday, but know that behind the scenes they are one of the most powerful forces in the world, for centuries they are responsible for dealing with the supernatural matters all over the world, they have special units fully trained and prepared for battle against monsters and have experts in Thaumaturgy!"

"What is Thaumaturgy?" Hanna questioned.

"It is the ability to perform miracles..." Locke replied. "I thought miracles were fiction..."

"Just like fairies and witches?" Angele asked jokingly.

Locke smiled at the witch's playful comment, he stood up.

"That's all I needed, even though I don't have all the information I need, I got out of square one, I need to decide how to proceed from now on..." Locke raised his right hand and a huge blood-red ruby popped ​​from his inventory, one of the many jewels he had won from Rudra's estate. "This is for information, if it is not enough I will also pay for Hanna's magic classes with gold..."

"This is not necessary, I must thank you for not having hurt any of my children, even after they attacked you..."

"I insist, please accept it, interpret it as an apology for coming with out warn!" Locke smiled coldly.

Angèle understood Locke's hidden motivation, he didn't want to owe her any favors, so he paid for the information and offered to pay for Hanna's lessons, she shook her head slightly and picked up the gem on the table.

Hanna and Tia accompanied Locke into the hall when Angèle called them.

"Wait!"

Locke and the girls stopped in their tracks, the witch went over to them and handed him a card and a piece of paper with a note on it. "This card has Agent Alexis Durant's phone number, she and her partner are the Bureal agents who were responsible for finding you, now they're in charge of facing the cultists! Maybe they have the information you need and... Maybe meeting with Bureal on your own terms is the best choice to avoid problems in the future..."

"I'll think about it, and the paper?"

"It's the address of a certain bar in town, some supernatural beings gather there, maybe you can get information you need between them... But don't take the girl, some of them treat humans like food..."

Locke looked at the paper with a serious expression, he memorized the address and put the paper in his pocket, he and the girls left the room, being guided by Wolde to the exit of the mansion.

Angèle was alone in the room, she went back to her own chair and sat down, she undressed her veil, revealing her burnt face, looking at the ceiling she sighed deeply.

"So this is your son, Nathalia? He sure looks like you..." She smiled wistfully. "I just hope he has a heart like yours..."

Oblivious to Angèle's last sentence, Locke and the girls left the mansion, Wolde argued with Hanna when it would be possible to start her magic classes, after a little debate Hanna decided to have classes every weekend, Locke would be responsible for bringing her to the mansion, Wolde did not want to accept payment, but Locke insisted, he took a jewelry necklace of from the inventory and the girl said that it was enough.

Wolde accompanied them to the stone gate, as soon as they reached it she stopped and started talking to Locke.

"I'm sorry for attacking you..." She said looking down.

"I don't care, you wanted to protect Hanna so I forgive you!" Locke replied.

"Tha's it faketits! Your weak attacks are past!" Tia screamed excitedly.

"Faketits?" Hanna was confused.

Wolde started to turn red. "You... can you see it?"

"Obvious!" Tia replied. "I just don't understand why you have to use magic to pretend!"

"WAAAAAAAAHHHHH!!!!" Wolde shouted as she ran back to the mansion.

"I think you hit a delicate spot!" Locke commented. "Anyway, let's go home!"

Locke took off his shirt and spread his wings, he took Hanna like a princess and prepared to fly.

"And me, when do you intend to carry me in your arms?" Tia joked.

"...But you can fly alone!" Locke replied confused.

"I'm just kidding!" said the fairy before taking the lead, flying off in front of they.

"You truly don't understand a maiden heart..." Hanna commented in his arms.

Locke looked at the girl with even more confusion, there are things that men will never understand, even if they are dragons.